Don't rule out our own little dark horse, Jordan Subban, as a candidate to get a look next December. All it takes is a terrific start to the season, and an injury or two on the blueline, for the kid to get a look.

As for Gaunce, I think he's a lock for the WJ team, be it on the wing or centre. The kid has huge big game potential and he's as versatile up and down the lineup as they come. He would have been a candidate to make the WJ team last year had he not been injured. Maybe not in a scoring role, but certainly as a checker.

coco_canuck wrote:I think Jensen will shuffle between the AHL and NHL a few times but don't expect him to make much of a consistent impact until 2014-2015.

Haven't seen much of Lain, but I somehow doubt a player with minimal pro-experience will win an every-day job out of camp. It will probably be a transitional season for him with a couple call-ups, and hopefully he'll be trending in the right direction for 2014-2015.

Gaunce could probably benefit from dominating offensively in the OHL next season since he hasn't produced above a point-per-game clip at that level yet, but it's really too bad he can't play in the AHL next season. If the Canucks don't think he has much to gain from returning to the OHL, he has a realistic shot coming out of camp but he must impress in his 9 games if he's to stick. Not sure if he's ready yet.

Jensen is definitely a wild card. He has all the talent in the world but consistency is a problem. So I think he's a sure bet to shuffle between the NHL and AHL like you said.

I don't see why Lain can't win an every day job out of camp despite his limited pro experience. Lain will be 24 by the time the season starts and played 13 games in the AHL last season. It's not an unrealistic jump. No concern here playing him on the 4th line and playing 8-10 minutes a game.

As for Gaunce, I'm not sure if he will dominate offensively next season. As far as I know, the Bulls don't play a free-wheeling offensive system and the numbers Guance has put up the past two years are very solid numbers. There might be more offensive production there or there might not. I think Gaunce might be ready to move up.

FAN wrote:I don't see why Lain can't win an every day job out of camp despite his limited pro experience. Lain will be 24 by the time the season starts and played 13 games in the AHL last season. It's not an unrealistic jump. No concern here playing him on the 4th line and playing 8-10 minutes a game.

I don't think there's a concern with him playing limited minutes at the NHL level, it's him being competent in those minutes. It's difficult for me to say how he'll perform in camp and how ready he is but it's often the case players take time adjusting to the intensity of NHL hockey, the travel, the number of games, and the pressure.

We'll find out if he can impress enough to win a spot and be consistent enough to keep it.

I suggested Horvat may be able to play based on the size and strength of the kid. He's 6 ft 1 and 210 as an 18 year old and he's built like a linebacker. He has good hands seems to be a real strong 2 way player and he is apparently a beast in the faceoff circle. I'm not saying he will make the team but imho he may have the best chance of all the 18 - 20 year olds. The thing that may hold Gaunce back at this time is his wheels. He still looks like he will be a player but atm Bo is a better skater than him.

I really didn't even think about Schroeder when I was thinking of what prospects will stick. He basically has to make the team or he'll be traded or waived. I am kinda ambivelant about the kid. He does have some skill but he is soooo small and I haven't seen the type of tenacity he will need to succeed at this level being that size.... see Brendan Gallagher. To me if Jordan Schroeder is not a consistent 45- 55 point player he will have a tough time sticking in the NHL.

Blob Mckenzie wrote:I suggested Horvat may be able to play based on the size and strength of the kid. He's 6 ft 1 and 210 as an 18 year old and he's built like a linebacker. He has good hands seems to be a real strong 2 way player and he is apparently a beast in the faceoff circle. I'm not saying he will make the team but imho he may have the best chance of all the 18 - 20 year olds. The thing that may hold Gaunce back at this time is his wheels. He still looks like he will be a player but atm Bo is a better skater than him.

I think Horvat is closer to 6"0" than 6"1". Does it matter? Hope not. I think at this time Horvat is a pretty similar player to Gaunce at this time, maybe a bit better. Not enough to risk ruining Horvat's development? Gaunce's skating might not be good enough, but it's probably something he can develop just as well in the NHL as it would be in the CHL. At this point, Gaunce's skating just needs to be good enough as his size, strength, and defensive acumen should be at the NHL level.

I really didn't even think about Schroeder when I was thinking of what prospects will stick. He basically has to make the team or he'll be traded or waived. I am kinda ambivelant about the kid. He does have some skill but he is soooo small and I haven't seen the type of tenacity he will need to succeed at this level being that size.... see Brendan Gallagher. To me if Jordan Schroeder is not a consistent 45- 55 point player he will have a tough time sticking in the NHL.

From what I've seen of Schroeder, I think he's an NHL player. There's really no reason why Schroeder can't play the Ebbett role next year at worst.

ukcanuck wrote:Gaunce, Horvat, and Shinkaruk all on the Canadian junior team... It really will seem like Christmas if that happens.

ukcanuck wrote:Gaunce, Horvat, and Shinkaruk all on the Canadian junior team... It really will seem like Christmas if that happens.

I mean its one thing to have a few kids sprinkled around the other national teams as we usually do if we're lucky. But to have three wearing the maple leaf? Fucking awesome

Right on man, that would ease the pain & humiliation of the pure suckage we would see with Canuck-One's lineup!

That and the prospect of a lottery pick of course.

Merry Fucking Christmas!!!

When did this team go from a 5 time repeat division winner to a lottery team? I'm assuming they lost a lot of players? Schneids and Lu is a lateral move, the rest of the team is still here. I really don't understand the sentiment that they suck all of a sudden, unless the losses of Raymond and Lappy are much worse than they seem to be.

I really didn't even think about Schroeder when I was thinking of what prospects will stick. He basically has to make the team or he'll be traded or waived. I am kinda ambivelant about the kid. He does have some skill but he is soooo small and I haven't seen the type of tenacity he will need to succeed at this level being that size.... see Brendan Gallagher. To me if Jordan Schroeder is not a consistent 45- 55 point player he will have a tough time sticking in the NHL.

From what I've seen of Schroeder, I think he's an NHL player. There's really no reason why Schroeder can't play the Ebbett role next year at worst.

I agree with this. I'm also curious to see to what extent Schroeder's game will change or evolve with a new coach and perhaps a different (or at least more secure) role on the team this year.

Not to say that he's going to turn into a feisty little shit stirrer or Marty St. Louis junior or anything, but I wonder if he was simply told that he was plugging a hole here last year, and if it maybe limited what he tried to do on the ice.

Another thing with Schroeder is that apparently he actually has a pretty damn good shot - hopefully he notices that sets him apart on this Canucks team and actually starts using it, because he needs to create space for himself if he's ever going to produce at this level and actually putting a puck on net every now and then would be one way to do that.

Diehard1 wrote:Schneids and Lu is a lateral move, the rest of the team is still here.

I see this mentioned a lot, and I agree for the most part - but while Schneider to Luongo is only a marginal downgrade, Luongo to Lack (or Eriksson or whatever career backup is still looking for a job right now) is a colossal downgrade and unless the Canucks are going to give Roberto 70+ starts again we'll be seeing that steep dropoff in quality 20-25 times this year.

ukcanuck wrote:Gaunce, Horvat, and Shinkaruk all on the Canadian junior team... It really will seem like Christmas if that happens.

I mean its one thing to have a few kids sprinkled around the other national teams as we usually do if we're lucky. But to have three wearing the maple leaf? Fucking awesome

Right on man, that would ease the pain & humiliation of the pure suckage we would see with Canuck-One's lineup!

That and the prospect of a lottery pick of course.

Merry Fucking Christmas!!!

When did this team go from a 5 time repeat division winner to a lottery team? I'm assuming they lost a lot of players? Schneids and Lu is a lateral move, the rest of the team is still here. I really don't understand the sentiment that they suck all of a sudden, unless the losses of Raymond and Lappy are much worse than they seem to be.

I doubt we will be in a position to get a shot at the number one pick, but there is every indication that Vancouver will have a tough time earning any home ice advantages in the playoffs.

The Canucks will be tested much more often by better teams this coming season. Playing the Ducks, Kings, and Sharks multiple times will be a substantial test compared to the pretty weak division we've been lucky to dominate over the last 5 seasons.

dbr wrote:I see this mentioned a lot, and I agree for the most part - but while Schneider to Luongo is only a marginal downgrade, Luongo to Lack (or Eriksson or whatever career backup is still looking for a job right now) is a colossal downgrade and unless the Canucks are going to give Roberto 70+ starts again we'll be seeing that steep dropoff in quality 20-25 times this year.

Well Torts played Lundqvist 43 out of 48 games last year. He had him playing upwards of 65-70 games/year when he was in New York.

ORCA wrote:The Canucks will be tested much more often by better teams this coming season. Playing the Ducks, Kings, and Sharks multiple times will be a substantial test compared to the pretty weak division we've been lucky to dominate over the last 5 seasons.

I agree the division will be better, how much better remains to be seen. The Ducks just lost Bobby Ryan and replaced him with Jacob Silfverberg, that's a downgrade. They have an ancient Selanne and Koivu as their secondary scoring, and Selanne may not come back. I have a really hard time seeing them as better than last year, in fact I think they are worse. They got smoked in the first round as well, but that only seems to count when it happens to the Canucks.

The Sharks are another old team and haven't improved - yes they smoked Vancouver in the first round but they lost pretty easily in the second round and haven't improved unless signing Raffi Torres and Tyler Kennedy is a big jump.

The Kings are a good team, no question.

The Oilers and Flames are the same, and the Yotes have added Ribeiro who seems to play well in contract years and that's all.

It's a better division I would say, I just don't see the powerhouse everyone seems to be thinking it is. I don't expect the Nucks to win their division by 20+ points as they have been recently, but they will have as good a chance as any of these teams to win it.